Streets turned into raging rivers, with one resident seen clinging to an electricity pole while another waved for help from a window, according to images shared by the fire brigade after the violent downpour which began late Monday.

The deluge in the state of Minas Gerais caused a river to burst its banks, prompting flooding, landslides, and building collapses.

The municipality of Juiz de Fora recorded 16 deaths and 43 missing and the city of Uba recorded seven deaths and four people missing, according to official figures.

Sniffer dogs ran over the debris and mud looking for victims, while residents joined in the hunt for lost loved ones.

Valtencir Coutinho told local broadcaster TV Globo he was looking for his six-year-old daughter Sophia under the rubble and prayed to find her alive.

"We are fighting for that," he said.

- Record rainfall -

Firefighters were responding to "flooding incidents, landslides, and structural risks along the banks and in areas near the Paraibuna River," which overflowed its banks, said Lieutenant Henrique Barcellos, spokesman for the Minas Gerais fire department.

Juiz de Fora's mayor, Margarida Salomao, declared a state of emergency.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his government recognized the state of emergency and placed the national civil defense on high alert.

"Our focus is to guarantee humanitarian assistance, the restoration of basic services, aid to displaced people, and support for reconstruction," he wrote on X.

Salamao said her municipality of a little over half a million people was experiencing its wettest February on record, with 584 millimeters (1.9 feet) of accumulated rainfall.

Some neighborhoods are isolated, with at least 20 landslides, Salomao said, calling the situation "extreme."

Her office said that an estimated 440 people had to leave their homes and were receiving support for temporary shelter.

"Nobody wants to stay here. We're asking for help not only from the Minas Gerais state government but also from the federal government," Angelica Rezende Moreira, 44, owner of a restaurant where "everything was lost," told the Estadao newspaper.

State authorities suspended classes in all municipal schools.

Brazil has suffered various tragedies in recent years due to extreme weather events ranging from floods to drought and intense heat waves.

In 2024, more than 200 people died and two million were impacted by unprecedented flooding in southern Brazil, one of the worst natural disasters in its history.

Two years earlier, a deluge in the city of Petropolis outside Rio de Janeiro left 241 people dead.

Experts have linked most of these events to the effects of climate change.

Juiz de Fora is infamous as the location where far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen in 2018 while campaigning for election.